Wrong Number
by fishstic
Summary: Glinda's walk home didn't turn out like expected. [Addition now that it's not just a one-shot anymore. to answer a few questions. This story is gelphie, will contain fluff and possibly angst, and contains Elphaba exploring possible labels for herself because the line "I'm a girl by birth, if not by choice." in the novel intrigued me and made me headcanon trans/nonbinary Elphaba.]
1. Chapter 1

The bar closed at 3 am, it always did. However, Fiyero didn't always leave without making sure Glinda had a cab or friend to take her home first. This was a first for Glinda. She left the bar at 3:05 am walking home alone, she hadn't even drank anything that night, she didn't want to waste the money, she was hoping to spend it on Milla's birthday present.

She'd gotten about halfway down the block from the bar when she heard it. Footsteps. It was the stuff nightmares are made of. She quickened her pace a little, but the footsteps kept up a steady pace behind her. She turned a corner thinking, _maybe it's a coincidence?_ The footsteps, however, didn't stop. Or lose volume or distance. They actually seemed to be getting closer, so she glanced over her shoulder to be sure, and noticed a man, nearly three times her size (not hard considering how small she was) following her.

Then she looked forward and noticed at the corner two streets up was a phone booth. If she could just get to it, maybe he'd think she was calling the police and leave. So she picked up a little speed, and to her shock so did he. Soon she was full out running to the phone booth and he was getting closer by the second.

When she got there, she ducked inside and quickly shut the door, noticing it had a lock she fumbled with that, her hands trembling so much that she nearly couldn't get it to lock but she did just in time.

He was outside the booth now, pacing and menacingly saying that he had all the time in the world, she'd have to come out sometime.

Glinda was terrified, and her breath was short. She didn't know what to do. She could call the police but he'd probably run for it and be gone before they got there. Then she thought she could text one of her friends, maybe Fiyero or Avaric. But when she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, to her shock and great dismay it was dead. So she did the only other thing she could think to do, her eyes blurred with tears she pulled some change out of her pocket, and just barely managed to get it in the coin slot. She shakily dialed the first number that popped into her head, Fiyero's cell phone.

When the voice on the other end answered, a very sleepy, distinctly female voice, she realized she must have dialed it wrong. "It's 3:30 in the morning this had better be good, cause I swear to god if this is you again Shell I'm gonna wring your neck, you little brat do you homework at a decent hour."

"H-h-h-hello?" Glinda said very shakily, still crying.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end seemed to recongize that this wasn't 'Shell, the little brat'. "Who is this?"

"M-my name's G-Glinda."

"And mine's Elphaba why are you calling me at this hour? Are you okay? Did you mean to call the police? Are you crying?"

Glinda let the story spill in one massive blurt of words and tears. "It's the middle of the night and I'm walking home alone in the dark because my friend left me by accident and there's this guy following me and he started to gain on me and I found this phone booth with a lock on the door and he caught up and he's right out there and I tried to call my best friend but my hands were shaking so badly I accidentally dialed the wrong number and I don't even know you but please help me."

"Where exactly are you?"

"The corner of South Elm and West Maple, downtown."

"Downtown, Shiz?"

The man slammed his fists on the door, he couldn't quite hear what Glinda was saying. "I've got all the time in the world sweetheart. And most of the strength too. I could probably break this door."

Elphaba on the other end heard the man and gritted her teeth, she was holding her cell phone to her ear while quickly throwing on a jacket and slipping on her shoes, she made sure to pocket not only her knife but her wand as well. She hardly ever used the thing, but the mere prospect of being cursed was enough to scare most people away.

"Yeah," Glinda said very quietly through her tears.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes. Don't try to leave."

"Okay," Glinda whispered, but she didn't hang up. And neither did Elphaba.

Five minutes of the man trying to break the door of the phone booth later, Elphaba was standing on the corner knife in hand.

"Back off," she yelled at him.

He turned and smiled, evilly. "I see she called a lizard to save her."

"Fuck off," Elphaba spat. "I'm a witch."

"Oh really, whatcha gonna do Miss Witch? Cast a spell on me? With a knife?"

"No I'm gonna fucking stab you, if you don't back the fuck off."

He slammed his fist on the door of the phone booth and this time the glass shattered and Glinda screamed.

The next moments were a blur, but two things were certain to Glinda when she she realized what was happening. Someone had seen this scene and called the police, and Elphaba had actually stabbed the man, or at least it looked like that to her, until the EMTs finished cleaning the cut above her eye and she could see that there wasn't any blood on the knife.

"You should be fine, after a good night sleep," one of the EMTs said to Glinda. "Him on the other hand, he might lose an eye. It's lucky you were all hunched down like you were. I don't think he was expecting that when he shattered the door most of the glass would come back on him."

"Is Elphaba going to get in trouble?" was the first and only thing Glinda asked the EMT.

"Why would she? All she did was knock him down to try to get to you."

Glinda nodded, and the EMTs carried the man away cuffed to a stretcher, with a police officer in the ambulance with him.

One officer stayed behind to get Elphaba and Glinda's contact information before leaving to file the report.

"So," Elphaba said moving to get a better look at Glinda and her injuries. "Hey, you're in my Psychology class!"

"I am?" Glinda thought for a moment. She did seem to notice occasionally that there was a green girl in her Psychology class. "I AM!"

"How about you come back to my apartment? It's closer than your dorm."

Glinda thought for a second then nodded. "That sounds like a wonderful idea."


	2. Chapter 2

**Ask (nicely) and you shall receive.**

* * *

Elphaba kept a close eye on Glinda as they walked back to her apartment. It wasn't likely that someone else would come after either of them in the block and a half walk to the building, but even if they did, Elphaba was ready.

She wasn't entirely sure what she wanted to say, but she felt like she had to say something. Only one thing popped into her mind though, "You sounded really concerned when you thought I was going to get in trouble."

Glinda turned and looked at Elphaba while walking. The bandage above her eye just visible behind her bangs. "Well it was my fault that you were there. I didn't want you to get in trouble because of my stupidity."

"I don't know you very well," Elphaba said quietly sounding almost unsure. "But you're not stupid." She looked around to make sure they were alone then said, "Sometimes our psychology professor lets me grade the tests. You know who makes the top marks?"

"You. Everyone knows it's you," Glinda said. "You're not cheating that are you?"

"Sweet Oz no, the professor would get fired if I did. Do you know who makes the second to top marks?"

Glinda thought about that. A lot of the other students bragged about their grades, but she didn't know any of their names. "No."

"It's you."

"Me?" Glinda shook her head. "That can't be right."

"It is," Elphaba said with a nod.

"Glinda do you even look at your grades?"

Glinda shook her head shyly. "I always just assumed they're not all that great so looking at them would only make me sad."

"How then do you ever know that you're passing your classes?"

"I don't. I just assume if I wasn't the professor would tell me."

Elphaba tilted her head not really understanding how anyone could be so unconcerned about their grades. Then she looked up and stopped walking. "We're here."

Glinda looked up at the building they were in front of. It wasn't very impressive looking. Still anywhere with a bed had to be better than walking alone in the dark anymore.

"I know it's not very impressive on the outside," Elphaba said as she reached in her pocket and pulled out her key. "But it's really nice inside." She led Glinda in through the front door and down a short hallway to her apartment, number 22. Then she unlocked the door and held it open for Glinda.

Glinda smiled and stepped into the room. Before she could comment on how dark the room was, she felt something very furry running around her feet.

"Elphaba do you have a dog?" she asked just as the furry thing started whining.

"Yeah. You're not allergic are you?" Elphaba asked flipping on the light and closing the door. "Killjoy, down."

The dog a medium sized brown mixed breed of some sort whined, but backed away from Glinda and sat down.

"Killjoy?" Glinda asked concerned about if that meant the dog was mean or not.

"It's just a name," Elphaba said with a smile. "He's a rescue."

"That's sweet," Glinda said with a yawn. "By the way, who is Shell?"

"Shell?" Elphaba asked, she was fighting with the zipper of her jacket, which had gotten stuck. "He's my little brother. Why?"

"I was just wondering, when you answered you said you were going to wring his neck if he didn't learn to do his homework at a decent hour," Glinda said walking over and lightly smacking Elphaba's hands. "Enough, you're only going to get it more stuck like that. Allow me."

Elphaba sighed and relented her zipper to Glinda with a grumble. She was rather surprised when the sleepy little blonde had the stuck zipper unstuck and open in less than thirty seconds.

"Magic touch," Glinda joked. "I'm just really good with clothes."

"That's good to know," Elphaba said, quickly turning to slip off her jacket and hang it on the door, an act that also hid her slight blush, though she wasn't even sure if Glinda would have been able to tell.

"Are you really a witch?" Glinda asked.

"Are you?" Elphaba countered.

"I never said I was."

"You did too, not tonight no, but in one of your essays you made a very strong case for a reduction of the magic bans."

"Well...I..." Now Glinda was the one blushing.

"If you hadn't confused positive reinforcement with classical conditioning in the multiple choice section on that test, you would have made a higher grade than even I did."

Glinda blushed more. Then shook her head not understanding why Elphaba's compliments made her so happy and embarrassed. After all, she'd only just met her. "Making a good case for the reduction of the bans does not necessarily equate to me being a witch."

"Ahh but you saying in your essay, 'witches like me who wish to use their magic to assist others would benefit from a reduction or exemption in the bans.' and that does equate to you being a witch."

"You got me there," Glinda said with a yawn. "How do you even remember that?"

"I remember all interesting things I read," Elphaba said. "You need sleep."

"Just because I am yawning, Miss Elphaba, does not mean I am tired."

"Oh really?" Elphaba said with an amused smirk. "Suit yourself, but there's going to be a thunderstorm soon."

"What makes you think that would change anything about me being tired?" Glinda said defensively, though she knew storms terrified her.

"I don't," Elphaba said smiling. "I just figured you'd rather sleep through it than sit up and watch. See that window? You get quite a lovely view of the river, and of the storms, from it."

Glinda tilted her head and walked over to the window. She couldn't see much of anything out it until Elphaba switched the light off and she was presented with a right lovely view of the river that ran through Shiz, the river everyone called Suicide Canal.

"That is a nice view," Glinda said then turned to look at Elphaba who was now sitting on the floor beside Killjoy and taking her shoes off.

"I know," Elphaba said. "I like being able to see the river, even if I can't get near it."

"Afraid of the water, Miss Witch?"

"You could say that."

"I could," Glinda nodded then yawned. "Should I take the couch? It looks really comfy, and I'm not just saying that. How did you find a couch so fluffy?"

"It came with the apartment. The only furniture that came with the apartment actually," Elphaba said. She watched as Glinda walked over and plopped down on the couch like she was downright exhausted.

"I was going to suggest we share the bed, but if you're not afraid of a little thunder, then I don't see why you couldn't take the couch if you really want it."

Glinda smiled from the couch not wanting to give in and tell Elphaba that she was scared of storms, it seemed like such a childish thing to be afraid of.

Elphaba shrugged. "I'll get you a blanket then, and a pillow."

Glinda smiled when Elphaba headed into the bedroom. She wasn't sure if she'd convinced her or if she just gave up.

"By the way," Elphaba said walking back into the room with a pillow and blanket. "Is anyone going to worry about you if you don't show back up at your dorm until later?"

"I don't know," Glinda said accepting the pillow. "I'd hope Milla would notice. She's my roommate after all. Though I suppose she'd probably just assume I spent the night at some guy's house. She, and just about everyone else, has been encouraging me to do that all semester."

"That seems a little dangerous," Elphaba said draping the blanket over Glinda carefully. "Still here you are, sleeping over at some random guy's house."

Glinda nodded with a slight smile. "Difference being...Did you just say you're a guy?"


	3. Chapter 3

Elphaba nodded. "I did just say that. Were you expecting something different?"

"I thought you were a girl," Glinda sounded really hurt. Like she just offended herself by voicing that thought.

"Because I'm a witch?" Elphaba wasn't sure what to say. At this point she almost regretted thinking Glinda would understand just because she remembered what kinds of things Glinda wrote about in her essays.

"No," Glinda sat up. "I just...I'm sorry."

"You judged me by my looks didn't you?" Elphaba wasn't mad, everyone did that on first meeting. She did seem a little sad though, not because she'd thought Glinda would be any different, but because she'd wanted to make a good impression on her, and well this wasn't the way to do that.

"Well...yes...and no." Glinda stared at her hands not wanting to look Elphaba in the eyes, afraid that she'd offended her.

"No?" There was hope then.

"You sound like a girl. Especially over the phone."

"I see." Hope effectively crushed.

"I'm sorry," Glinda said reaching out from under the blanket and taking Elphaba's hand.

"There's no need to keep apologizing Glinda. You didn't know. Besides, it doesn't bother me anymore. A lifetime of being called a girl and treated like one too, one gets used to it." If she couldn't get Glinda to understand at the very least she could probably get her to stop apologizing.

"He or they?" Glinda asked hoping to be able to correct herself in the future before she made the mistake again.

"What?" That was not at all what she'd expected Glinda to say next.

"He or they? My friend Dakota uses they, Ashton is he. What about you?"

Elphaba looked thoroughly confused, as though no one had ever asked what pronouns to use. "I don't know. Everyone calls me she, I never thought to ask them to change."

"You're not a girl, right?"

"To be honest, Glinda, you're the first person I've told about that..." Elphaba looked away for a moment, expecting Glinda's next words to be the question of why she told her that when they'd only just met like fifteen minutes ago. Then she looked back and said sadly, "Maybe I'm better off not talking about it."

Glinda looked down for a moment, then back up straight into Elphaba's eyes and said with conviction, "You can be not a girl and still use feminine pronouns. That doesn't make you any less not a girl. You can you whatever pronouns you want. You can be a girl and use he pronouns. You can be both. I don't care."

"What if I don't know?"

"Then you don't know. That's okay."

"I don't understand."

"Listen here, green dork. You respected me enough to bring this up in the first place. Respect me enough to understand that I do know what I'm talking about. You are first and foremost a person. You don't need to be anything more or less. You can't be anything less. Not to the people who matter and care about you."

Elphaba was about to respond when her phone rang again. "I'll be right back."

Glinda stayed on the couch formulating more things to say to encourage Elphaba not to give up on figuring out who she was. She smiled at Killjoy who at some point had moved over and was lying in front of the couch.

"Well if you in your stupidly male mind had thought to make sure she got home safe I wouldn't be pissed at you right now and maybe I'd tell you where she went... Dammit Yero I will not calm down. Because of your slip up...No...Yero if you do not stop trying to blame Avaric for your mistake...I don't care. Ozdammit boy if you want to see your blonde beauty so much why don't you come over here then? Hell. I want you to. That'd give me a chance to hit you myself...Why don't you come see yourself. It's only been an hour since the bar closed...If you didn't care enough to get her a ride home, or stay and walk her home yourself how the hell did you figure out she didn't make it there?...No I don't care how worried you are over this...Yes I know exactly where she is. Yes she's safe, no thanks to you. I'm done with this. It's 4 am. She and I were having a moment. Get over yourself. Either come over here and see her or don't. Goodnight."

Soon Elphaba came back into the room to see Glinda petting Killjoy.

"You're not going to hurt Fiyero are you?" Glinda said extremely concerned.

"If he comes here, yes," Elphaba said. "That boy is the most brainless booksmart kid I've ever met. Nothing, not even just plain forgetfulness excuses him not making sure you would be able to get home safely."

Glinda started to respond but just then thunder rumbled across the sky and she jumped slightly.

"Not afraid of a little thunder are you?" Elphaba asked only partially joking to try to relieve some of the tension that was starting to build up in the room.

"Shut up," Glinda squeaked. Then when another, louder more menacing crack of thunder rumbled across the sky she jumped up and ran over to Elphaba, nearly knocking her over from the force of the hug. "Maybe a little," she whispered.

Elphaba smiled a little, despite actually being slightly uncomfortable with the sudden contact. She gently hugged Glinda back. "Don't worry. I won't let anything hurt you."

Glinda nodded. Another loud crack of thunder caused her to whimper. She really hated being afraid of storms. It was hell in her dorm, Milla didn't understand her fear and usually slept right through the storms no matter how much Glinda cried or tried to wake her.

Elphaba glanced out the window and saw the lightning flashing in the sky. This was one bad storm. For a second she regretted telling Fiyero to come over if he wanted to see Glinda. She didn't want him to be caught out in this storm.

The knock at the door was covered up by a loud crash of thunder. Then Elphaba heard the voice. "Fae. In case you can't hear the knocking because of the thunder. This is me announcing to you that I would like inside. Your neighbor's cat is staring at me again and it's really freaking me out."

Elphaba gently separated herself from Glinda. "I'll be right back, here sit with Killjoy. He'll protect you, and he's fluffy."

Glinda nodded fearfully and sat down beside Killjoy and hugged him.

Elphaba walked over to the door and opened it quickly. "Good. Let the cat stare, she probably knows by now that I'm never happy when you're here at night."

"Don't be like that, Fae. That was one time, I was drunk and if I remember the vague memory correctly you threw me out the window. Which really hurt by the way."

"Drunk does not excuse ignoring the word no."

"Fiyero what did you do?" Glinda asked rather sharply.

Fiyero stepped in and smiled at Glinda. "Nothing that Fae won't eventually forgive me for."

"In your dreams," Elphaba said closing the door behind him.

Fiyero just shrugged. "Why are you always so cruel?"

"Not that it really matters," Glinda said as another crack of thunder caused her to hug Killjoy a little too hard, but instead of getting mad he just let himself fall over onto her lap. "But I think Elphaba is really nice."

Fiyero smiled a little, then noticed that Elphaba had turned away a slightly darker shade of green and was mumbling about needing a drink. "Fae, are you blushing?"

"Shut up."

"You are!"

"I'll throw you out that window again!"

Fiyero laughed then walked over and sat down in front of Glinda and Killjoy. "Glin, what happened?"

"You left me there."

"I didn't mean to, I swear the guy from the cab company said he would be waiting on you when the bar closed."

"The same cab company you always hired?" Glinda asked she knew that guy he was never late, and he never missed a pickup, plus he was married and she wasn't exactly his type. He'd said so himself, his type was more the burly biker man type.

"No," Fiyero said almost regretfully. "Damien had to go out of the country this week for a wedding, and he's the only cabbie they have that'll run this late. It was a different company. One a guy in the bar recommended."

"Fiyero, I think you got tricked."

"I'm so sorry, Glin, if I'd known..."

"It's okay, Fiyero. I'm fine."

"That's not...You could have gotten...It would have been all my fault."

"Fiyero enough. You did not know that the guy who recommend the company was deceiving you. You did not deliberately hire someone whose intentions were to hurt me. If anything I should thank you."

"What?" Elphaba and Fiyero both gasped.

"If you hadn't left me there, I wouldn't have met Elphaba."

"Considering the circumstances of how you met me," Elphaba said. "You really should not be thanking him."

"She's right," Fiyero said. "You really shouldn't thank me. You got hurt."

"It's just a flesh wound." Glinda said then when a particularly loud clap of thunder startled her she started crying. "It doesn't hurt. Why does there have to be thunder? Why always thunder?"

Elphaba walked over and sat down beside Glinda and pulled her gently into her arms without a word.

"A moment," Fiyero whispered much in the manner an eight year old would. "I see. You'll have moments with her, but not with me."

"Put a sock in it Yero. I'm not against throwing you out the window again. Try to remember that."

Glinda mumbled against Elphaba's shoulder, "how did that happen anyway?"

"Well your buddy, Fiyero here was drunk one night-"

"You're not really going to tell her that story are you? She'll never let me sleep in her dorm room again. I'll be forced to sleep in the hallway when I forget my key."

"He was drunk," Elphaba said deliberately ignoring him. "And we were watching a movie. His brilliant idea of what to do after the the movie was sex. I said no. He tried 'reasoning' with me. Otherwise known as he tried to talk me into it. When he wouldn't listen and put his hand on me, I tossed him out the window. In all honesty, I meant to just push him off the bed, but the window in the bedroom was open. Not my fault."

"Fiyero you utter idiot," Glinda said. "As if it wasn't enough that Crisma burned you with a cigarette lighter when you tried that same thing on her in high school. Don't you ever learn?"

"I was drunk."

"Then stop drinking," Glinda said harshly, before another crash of thunder, though slightly quieter than the previous ones, caused her to press her head into Elphaba's shoulder again. "If you can't control yourself when drunk then don't drink."

"I don't drink often," Fiyero tried to counter.

"I don't care," Glinda said. "You're lucky Elphaba and Crisma are a lot more forgiving about this than I am. You try that with me, drunk or not, you can be sure that you will never see or talk to me again." There was a chill in her voice that scared even Elphaba, who normally didn't pick up on that sort of thing when it wasn't directed at her.

Elphaba realized then that Glinda was a girl who respected herself enough not to put up with anyone who didn't respect her just as much. She gently ran her hands through Glinda's hair hoping it would calm her a little the same way it used to calm Nessarose. To Elphaba's surprise it worked.

"I'm sorry," Glinda whispered.

"Don't be sorry, Glin," Fiyero said sincerely. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt you in anyway. You're the closest thing I have to a sister."

Glinda giggled. "What about your actual sister?"

"She doesn't count. We haven't talked in years." Fiyero reached out and put a gentle hand on Glinda's shoulder. "Besides, I'm closer to you that I ever have been to her."

"Yero, you don't have a crush on Miss Glinda now do you?"


End file.
